"We're not making fun of gay people," Anders insists, "but at other people's discomfort with them. What we really hope is that our movie and others like it are gonna be dated one day. I hope that people will one day look at these movies and say, 'Really? Was there really that kind of attitude about gay people in society?'"

More hopeful nerds: Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke, and James Marsden in former Mesa resident Sean Anders' new film Sex Drive.

In the meantime, homosexuals are still court jesters; American filmmakers still make road movies and films about teenagers dying to lose their virginity — Superbad, anyone? American Pie? — in which pimply losers prevail. Kind of. Sex Drive is the latest entry in this subgenre, one that's more entertaining than it should be, and that will probably leave most grownup viewers longing for a really great road movie.